Lost Tulsa, Be warned, depressing thread.

[TheArtist]

I have, over time, collected photos of some downtown buildings that have been demolished. The "some" is actually quite regrettable when you see how many I have found, and can see them all at one time. I have also included a few interesting buildings at the end that were not directly downtown, like the old municipal art-deco airport.

I hope I have not added any buildings to this list that actually exist lol. I have noticed that many buildings in our downtown have changed names over the years and have been remodeled or added onto. However, if you have any photos of other buildings that I do not have on here please add them. I would like to keep this thread to mostly buildings that were in or near downtown.  I also added some interior shots of the Mayo Hotel, since basically that has been "lost" as well.

I have done some photoshop work to many of the pics in order to clarify and enhance as much detail in the old photos as I could.

The Orpheum






The Ritz










Akdar





Coliseum


Mayo Lobby and dining room.





The Alvin Hotel





Hotel Tulsa


Brady Hotel


Halliburton/ Abbot/ Skaggs Building


Daniel Building


Medical Arts Building


McBirney Building


Pioneer Building


Central National Bank Building



Reeder Building



Clinton Building



County Courthouse


Carnegie Library


YWCA



Opera House/Grand Theater




Municipal Airport






Morningside Hospital


High School







Elks Lodge


Goodwill Industries building.


Palace Clothiers



Couple shots of downtown.






Cablecar

[MichaelBates]

Thanks for posting these, particularly the beautiful theater pictures. And I had never seen pictures showing the detail on our old airport terminal.

A couple of notes:

The Skaggs Drug building is the Halliburton-Abbott building. It was at the southwest corner of 5th & Boulder, and was demolished along with the YWCA (to its west), the Court Arcade Building (to its south), and the Continental Trailways bus depot (to its southwest) circa 1980 to make way for Cities Service's big new HQ. (It is now known as the Oneok Tower and, like its neighbor, the Pythian Building, is considerably shorter than designed.) I recall a petition being circulated to protest the demolition, but it had no effect.

The building you've labeled the YMCA was actually the YWCA, southeast corner of 5th & Cheyenne.

The Orcutt school building is still there. It became part of Lincoln School and is now home to Jason's Deli.

I wonder whether the Morningside Hospital building is still there on Hillcrest's campus. Drive south on Utica and look right as you approach 12th Street. Notice the detail between the first and second floors and then higher up. It's like they took that ornate building, squared it up, and painted it to hide the detail. Check it out and see what you think.

[NCTulsan]

MichaelBates beat me to the punch on some of those clarifications.  Yes, the Morningside building is indeed still there, as a part of the Hillcrest campus, but the ornamentation is barely visible behind the "updated" facade and gray paint.

Thank you TheArtist for those wonderful images.  Very neat, yet very depressing.

[DM]

Great pictures thanks.

Didnt the Coliseum burn down and was never rebuilt?

[TheArtist]

Thank you for the corrections. I never would have made the Oricutt, Lincoln, Jasons Deli connection lol. I am going to leave the Morningside pic up, simply because I haven't ever seen it, so it might as well be lost to me lol. I will however go by there and try to see where it is. And yes, I have noticed in several pics that there are many buildings near the one named that no longer exist either.

Other than the theater houses. The one building that really bothers me as being lost is the County Courthouse. What a solid, stately, well proportioned, classic building. One could easily imagine so many uses for such a building today.

[cannon_fodder]

Wow.  That's really a tragedy.  I don't know what else to say.  Tearing down one of these for parking (TULSA WORLD!!!!!!!) is just amazing.  I suppose the real blame lies with the city for allowing the demand for structures to fall off so much that it makes financial sense to do so.

In any event, what a loss.  Imagine how cool downtown could be with a those still standing.  [V]

[T Badd]

Incredible pics, Artist.  Thanks for going to the trouble of cleaning them up and posting them.

You're right, it's very depressing to see how many fantastic buildings we have demolished over just the past few decades.

btw...great name for a thread.

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by DM

Great pictures thanks.

Didnt the Coliseum burn down and was never rebuilt?

Yes. It burned in 1952. It was on the east side of Elgin between 5th and 6th. The land is now a surface parking lot. I don't think there has ever been another building on that site. When I was checking land records last year, someone with the name "King" still owned the land, suggesting that it had remained in Sam Avey's family all these years. (Developer Ramon King was Avey's son-in-law and the father of Sharon King Davis.) I understand that it was recently sold to Global Development Partners, who now own the entire block.

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist


Other than the theater houses. The one building that really bothers me as being lost is the County Courthouse. What a solid, stately, well proportioned, classic building. One could easily imagine so many uses for such a building today.

At one point after the new Courthouse was built, they considered using it as a Central Library. The Bank of America building is there now.

It's interesting that Tulsa never had a courthouse square. I wonder why not. The old courthouse was squeezed into one corner of the block.

[NCTulsan]

quote:Originally posted by MichaelBates
It's interesting that Tulsa never had a courthouse square. I wonder why not. The old courthouse was squeezed into one corner of the block.

Same goes for the old City Hall.  At least we still have that building.

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by MichaelBates

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist


Other than the theater houses. The one building that really bothers me as being lost is the County Courthouse. What a solid, stately, well proportioned, classic building. One could easily imagine so many uses for such a building today.

At one point after the new Courthouse was built, they considered using it as a Central Library. The Bank of America building is there now.

It's interesting that Tulsa never had a courthouse square. I wonder why not. The old courthouse was squeezed into one corner of the block.

I have always wondered why we dont have a central square, cathedral square, town square,market square, or whatever you want to call it. Often a church is on one side then the courthouse or government building on the other with a fountain in the middle. Seems to be a basic point that every city, large and small has, that we never had. Thats why whenever I get the chance I push for having one in front of Holy Family Cathedral where the parking lot is.

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist


I have always wondered why we dont have a central square, cathedral square, town square,market square, or whatever you want to call it. Often a church is on one side then the courthouse or government building on the other with a fountain in the middle. Seems to be a basic point that every city, large and small has, that we never had. Thats why whenever I get the chance I push for having one in front of Holy Family Cathedral where the parking lot is.

That would be a good location.

In early 1998, when the diocese bought and demolished the Tulsa Apartments and Cathey's Furniture ("Eighth to Ninth on Main"), they told everyone that they intended to build a chancery (diocesan HQ) and to create a plaza on that block, and that it would not be surface parking.  So your idea has been considered; it just hasn't been implemented.

[RecycleMichael]

Those were great buildings. Man, I wish we still had them in our downtown.

How did we allow them to be demolished?

[breitee]

Three corrections to be made. First, the Gallais Building is still at 4th and Boston. It was bought by Dr. Samuel Kennedy and had a duplicate addition on the Boston Avenue side. If you look over the entrance doors on the 4th Street side it still says "Gallais". Second, the Mc Birney Building also still exists at the corner of 3rd and Main Street. It was purchased in the sixties by Parker Drilling Company and had its ornamatation stripped off and replaced by square blocks at the cornice level. Third, the high school pictured was Tulsa High School which was located on Boston Avenue where the Atlas Life Building now sits. It was the forerunner of Central High School. If you look at a picture of Orcutt School you can see the differences in design. Also, yes you can barely see the Morningside Hospital building peeking out at you on Utica. If you go to the Alexander Burn Center at Hillcrest you can actually see the ornate terra cotta of Morningside close up. It is a shame that Hillcrest chose to deface this jewel. At least we still have some of these buildings to appreciate!

[inteller]

you have the Pythian building listed as mcbirney....and it is still standing.